RJ's Licorice Ltd is the sole New Zealand owned and operated manufacturer of licorice confectionery products. RJ's Licorice is a Family owned business and has been operating for seven years out of Levin.

Since the outset, we have strived to become New Zealand's leading licorice provider and we have successfully achieved this. We believe that this has been achieved though innovation with our products, offering products of extremely high quality, flavor and texture.

The botanical name for licorice is Glycyrrhiza glabra - licorice is a herb obtained from the roots of the plant. Known as the "Blue Flowering Snow Pea' plant grown in and around areas such as parts of China, Iran Iraq and Pakistan. Licorice is 50 times sweeter than sugar, so sweet it is bitter.

The Chinese have termed Licorice 'the great harmonizer' claiming that it blends and balances the effects of all herbs in a formula. Nearly two-thirds of all traditional formulas in Chinese Medicine contain Licorice. In China today, licorice is still the second most prescribed medicinal herb, behind Ginseng. Licorice roots have been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs attesting to the great respect for it's healing abilities. Hippocrates in the 4th century BC recommended licorice for the treatment of ulcers. One saying of an Arab Physician and philosopher, Avicenna is "the infused licorice purifies the voice and the trachea, and is useful in disorders and diets".

The major active ingredient glycyrrhizin was isolated and shown to have a cortisone-like action which explains its remarkable ability to reduce inflammation and speed the healing of ulcerated tissue.Today, naturopaths prescribe licorice for external ulcerous conditions such as burns, eczema and urticaria (which is swelling induced by poisonous plants or allergic reactions) and for internal ulcerous conditions such as bronchitis, sore throat and upper respiratory and gastro-intestinal tract infections.